Application and Optimization of Using Recycled Pulp for Methylene Blue Removal from Wastewater: A Response Surface Methodology Approach

Andreas Aditya Hermawan, Tan Kok Bing, and Babak Salamatinia

Abstract—One of the main challenges in the industrial world is presence of dyes in water bodies, which can create lots of problems. Researchers have recently focused a lot on removing dyes by use of low cost techniques or waste material. A huge amount of waste paper is daily produced in many places. This study has been conducted to investigate the possibility of using waste paper as an adsorbent to remove methylene blue (MB) dye from water. With total of six variables observed, the experiment was divided into two parts using central composite design, and employing Response Surface Methodology (RSM) by using Design-Expert 6.0.7 Software. After certain optimization following the criteria from software prediction, the highest removal of MB was found to be 95%. Pulped waste paper shows good sorption ability and the optimum conditions were found.